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Mighty Mead-Glee

It has been so long, friends, since we’ve had a review of anything but a book on here. Sure, there was a play review in January, and a poem review last May, but nearly a year has passed since we last shared a review of beverages. This should be remedied, so grab a glass and a seat while I tell you about last Saturday’s Meadfest.

On hearing that the B. Nektar Meadery of Ferndale, Michigan was having a mead-tasting festival, several friends and I decided to conduct ourselves thence. I was put in charge of all Beowulf references, and packed my Chickering accordingly.

Then a bench was cleared, room made in the hall 491for the gathered Weders standing in a troop;the courageous men took their seats,proud in their strength; a thane did his office,carried in his hands the gold ale-flagons, poured bright mead. At times the scop sang,bright-voiced in Heorot; there was joy of warriors,no small gathering of Geats and Danes.

There was tumult and song, melodious noise, 1063in front of Healfdene’s battle-commander;the harp was plucked, good verses chantedwhen Hrothgar’s scop in his place on the mead-bench came to tell over the famous hall-sportof Finn’s sons when the attack came on them…

I shared these lines of the mead-hall, along with various diverting kennings, until we reached our destination. We were not immediately certain, on doing so, that we had reached it. The rosy lenses of our expectation sought the promised tent and musicians and honey-drink on a grassy knoll amid a few trees. Even if the grass were a bit much to hope for, Ferndale is known locally as a chic and trendy hotspot, so we were surprised to find ourselves in a janky parking lot between the brewery and its industrial neighbors. It struck us as the mead-tasting no one had ever heard of. Michelle, conductor of our chariot, reckoned that our Hipster Quotient had skyrocketed, to which our friend Adam remarked “Man, I knew I should have worn tighter jeans!”

Huddled against the brisk breeze, our crew meted out beverage tokens to try 11 of the varieties available and recorded our impressions at the tables and folding chairs standing in for mead-hall benches. The wind whipped our cups over if ever we were careless, and the sun, overly concerned by the possibility of bothering us, kept hidden.

Against such a backdrop, the meads were welcome. Some had been brewed to resemble an IPA beer in mouthfeel and strength; others had a thicker, more traditional texture; still others had had fruit or spices added to impart different flavors. Here are our notes:

The Beer-Like (served on draft)

IPA-Style Evil Genius: Lightly carbonated mix of honey and hops. “Nose of wine, taste of Kool-Aid.” “That really just tastes like I ate a field of flowers.” Grapefruity. Like unto Jerome more than Ambrose or Bernard.

Apricot Cardamom – fascinating and strange. Very tangy, spicy, not hard cider-y. Smells more like apricot than it tastes. JCS approval.

Zombie Killer – technically a “cyser,” or blend of honey and apple cider, with tart cherry juice added and light carbonation. Apricot tang; very fruity. Like a Lambic beer. “Sparkling black cherry juice” (which I misheard as “carrot juice,” and was instructed to buy an ear trumpet for reasons both practical and sartorial). JCS approval.

Episode 13 – orange blossom/buckwheat honey mead, aged in a bourbon barrel. Curious to smell; sweet, then quite smoky to taste; thicker in mouthfeel with a toasted vanilla aftertaste; almost meaty, the way buckwheat can be; and “like unto whiskey-flavored gelato.” PH approval, enough to buy a bottle of it.

So, there is such a thing as death-mango mead? Also, were there any zombies present to test the efficacy of the Zombie Killer brew?

Mead is one of the few alcohols I actually like on its own, but I haven’t had much variety. Some of these sound very un-friendly to Jubilare (anything remotely resembling cough-syrup is an instant “no thanks”), but some sound rather nice…

Hahah, yes. I was a bit alarmed the first time I heard ‘janky’ thrown around in discussion like it’d been accepted into the OED, but it really does seem to fit such situations.

I did not witness any zombies, which suggests that either there were no test subjects, or that the brew had already been utilized to great effect. As everyone in my party drank it without suffering ill, I can only conclude that I was not hanging about with zombiefolk unawares 😉

What I found curious where the varieties were concerned was the fact that B. Nektar’s website claimed that the wildberry pyment is their most popular. I’m intrigued by their mead/beer mashups – definitely a good way to tempt beer drinkers into the fold – but I haven’t had a chance to compare their traditional meads with, say, Chaucer/English Mead/Redstone/etc.

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